Hi,
I'm doing a swarm robots project that will include 8 robots which can communicate between themselves and do certain tasks.
I want robots to be able to do certain formations (like circle or square) and, of course, i want them to work together to, for example, push some small object.
So far i made 'construction' for robots (platform, wheels and such), but since this is my first project, I'm lacking knowledge and experience in what sensors i would use.
I was thinking of using GPS sensor, but since robots will work indoors, that's out of option (and probably too much).
There will, probably, be distance sensor to avoid collision between robots and surrounding. I was also thinking of using Bluetooth or something like that so that robots can communicate with each other, but i still don't know how to get their positions so i could do formations and such.
Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but can you guys give me some guidance in what to look for, or give me some resources to read so i can get some general idea of what to use in this project. Also it would be nice if you can link me some resources that explain formation making (kinda got some ideas, but i think they will not work).
This is a very challenging project for an experienced programmer.
Try to make one robot that can move autonomously avoiding collisions...
Plenty of examples available via google.
For that you could use ultra sound distance sensors.
Communication could be done with BLE.
RF communication in a big swarm will fail due to too much interference. In natural swarms the animals watch each other (passive sensing). That's an already well researched area.
Precise control of an indoor swarm will be impossible unless each individual can know its exact 3D position. It may be possible to select a leader and let the others follow his controlled moves automatically.
I was thinking of making one robot leader and other followers and based on his location to do formations. For example, circle formation, i would check if they are in radius distance of leader robot, but i didn't get far because i still need to know locations of robots.
Thanks for the reply.
Animals in a swarm don't know about their absolute position, only their position relative to their neighbors. I suggest that you start learning about researched swarm behavior, how individuals avoid crashes etc.